Parity Check

Parity Check
Indiana University- Purdue University at Fort Wayne
Computing and Data Processing Newsletter September/October, 1990
In This Issue:
Editor's Corner 1
Director's Update 2
Reminder to New Faculty 3
Computing Information Center Opens 4
12 Tips for Better VAX Cluster Computing 5
E-maiiiD's 9
Active Query 12
Statistics Programs Updated 13
Reece's Pieces 14
Workstation Configuration 15
Subscription Form 16
Parity Check is published six times a year by Computing and
Data Processing at Indiana University- Purdue University, at
Fort Wayne, 2101 Coliseum Blvd. East, Fort Wayne, Indiana
46805. The Editor is Alan Federman. Software used includes
WordStar, PC-Write, and Aldus Pagemaker. Hardware in­cludes
an IBM PS/2 model GO and an HP LaserJet II.
Editor's Corner -
Changes Over Summer Vacation
Alan Federman
As usual, another summer has blazed by.
This one has been particularly exciting. One
of the highlights has been winning a 4th place
in the annual NACUBO (National
Association of College and University
Business Officers) Cost Reduction Incentive
Awards. The $2500 prize was accepted in
Hawaii this summer by John Carnaghi. This
award recognized the innovations developed
for our public PC Clusters. Of course, what
was once new and shiny, has now begun to
show the signs of age. We soon will need to
upgrade and expand this facility.
The VAX cluster gained several new pieces
of software, as well as several significant
upgrades. Among the new arrivals are a tape
management system and file archiving
(helpful to those with large data sets) and PV­Wave
(a scientific/engineering visualization
system). Among the updates are new
releases of SAS and SPSS. Courses
familiarizing you with these updates will be
offered. (See the course schedule in this
issue.)
The wiring of the campus is almost complete.
All thirteen servers have been installed, and
only minor wiring needs to be finished in the
Library and CM. The PC network allows
intercampus electronic mail.
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 1
Upgrades to the PC Clusters
include replacing the
monochrome monitors in
Kettler 217 with color
monitors. Lotus was up­graded
to Version 2.2.
The Computing Information
Center (CIC) officially
opened this month. You
received invitations to visit
this facility. (See related
article later in this issue).
computing capabilities and capability. Communications
changes at IPFW. For our between the individual
VAX users, information is networks is accomplished
also conveyed in the form of over the campus Ethernet
announcements at log-in time network. Our next objective
and can be reviewed at the $ is to extend this connectivity
prompt using the "Announce" to the IBM mainframe and
and "News" commands. eliminate future IRMA board
Director's Update
R. H. Ritchie
Library Access System
FW-LIRN is our library on­line
access system. At the
direction of the Library staff,
a local implementation of a
variety of library services got
underway this summer. This
is in addition to the IU on-line
purchases. Software selection
and testing of this IBM
gateway server is in process
and we hope to make this new
access capability available by
late November.
Workstations
Welcome back! To the new catalog system installed last We are often asked about
faculty and staff who have just January. FW-LIRN resides
joined IPFW we offer a on the VAX computer and is
special welcome and wish you menu driven for ease of use.
the best as we all begin the Functions currently available
new school year. For our include a document delivery
newcomers, this newsletter, service, direct access to the IU
Parity Check, is printed bi- card catalog, and access to
monthly by C & DP during the other universities' catalogs. A
school year. It is our primary course reserve system is
means of communicating nearing completion. Look for
computing information to the information from the Library
community. You will find about orientation classes
articles dealing with soon. FW-LIRN is available
mainframe computing, micro to faculty, staff and students,
computing, new software or with or without VAX
workstation or micro­computer
configurations
prior to purchase. Please take
a moment to read Mark
Franke's column entitled
Active Query on page 12. In
the article he suggests a
minimum 386SX level of
micro computer be pur­chased.
Also in this edition of
Parity Check we have
included a suggested configu­ration
and a list of optional
enhancements.
changes to existing software, accounts. To-date, there are The importance of these
software development status, 227 individuals signed up to individual workstations as the
such as the Student use the LIRN system; of those cornerstone for academic and
Information System, and 227, 138 are students. administrative computing,
much more. Between becomes increasingly evident
editions of Parity Check, we Micro Computer Networks almost daily. For some, the
may find it necessary to workstation alone will suffice
address specific topics. This This summer we completed while others will use it to
is achieved by our flier called the last installation of the 13 reach out for additional
Random Bytes. Both doc- PC networks, connecting information and services.
uments will help you with your approximately 400 devices The IPFW Information
computing experiences and and giving the campus a mkro Environment, with its library
help keep you aware of computer based E-mail on-line access, is just one of
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 2
such services. Reaching out Learning Resource Center.
to the course reserve list or The videos come in two parts.
inter-library loan service, Each lasts approximately 4
downloading i!lformation hours.
our reliance on paper
documentation in favor of
electronic documentation. An
example of this is the LIRN
(Library Information Re­trieval
Network). We are
adding an on-line help system
from a particular database or
searching the card catalog of
some distant University will
bring a new dimension to the
scholars work here at IPFW.
Reminder to
New Faculty
Alan N. Federman
Here is a reminder of some of
the many services provided
by C & DP. Information on
any of these may be obtained
from the CIC.
Tows of Facilities
We will schedule tours of the
machine room to groups of 20
or less. This tour includes the
VAX, IBM 4381, PC Servers,
communications, input/
output, security and en­vironmental
factors. The tour
lasts about 30 minutes. This
tour is frequently given to
prospective faculty
candidates and beginning
Computer Science students.
Vuleo WordPerfect Cowse
We recently purchased a
Dial ups
Dial-up access to the VAX to the PC Cluster. Electronic
cluster, including remote HELP has existed on the VAX
access to the IUPUI, and IBM 4381 for some time
Bloomington and West already. In addition, the DOC,
Lafayette campuses, is IPFW, EDTCAI, and
available 24 hours a day, 7 VMSCAI commands on the
days a week. Twelve lines are VAX give instruction or
available. The number is 481- deliver documents. We will
6905. Modem parameters be adding a CAl (computer
are 2400, 1200, or 300 baud; aided instruction) package to
8 bits, 1 stop ·bit, no parity. the IBM 4381 shortly. This
Access to the IBM 4381 or the package will cover XED IT
PC networks is not possible (the IBM text editor).
through dial ups.
Consulting
The student consultants (ext
6210) can answer many of
the common computing
questions you may have. If
you are not able to contact a
student consultant, E-mail is
a fairly quick way · to get
information. Send your
questions to CONSULTING
on the VAX. We can
schedule appointments for
detailed scien~ific, statistical,
or data base computing
requests. The point of
contact for these requests is
Alan Federman in the CIC.
C & DP will continue to
provide paper docu-mentation.
All bound
documents are available in the
bookstore. Short pamphlets
on many of our common
packages and services are
available free of charge from
racks in various locations.
Schedules
Hours for C &DP Facilities
Mon. -Fri.
Saturday
Sunday
LABS
7:00am to 12am
8:30am to 5:30pm
12:30pm to 10pm
Main Office and CIC
WordPerfect Introduction Documentation
Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 5 pm Video. You may sign this out.
Each video comes complete Documentation exists in
with a disk and workbook. many places and forms. We
You will need to borrow a are always trying to reduce
half inch VHS VCR from the
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 3
C &: DP short courses
PC Courses
Title Level Date Time Room
WordPerf B 09-26 3:30 KT217
WordPerf B 10-05 4:00 KT217
WordPerf B 10-24 5:00 KT217
WordPerf I 10-15 12:00 KT217
WordPerf I 10-31 4:00 KT217
WordPerf I 11-09 5:00 KT217
WordPerf A 11-16 4:00 KT217
WordPerf A 12-03 1:00 KT217
Lotus B 09-28 3:30 KT217
Lotus B 10-03 4:00 KT217
Lotus B 10-26 5:00 KT217
Lotus I 10-17 3:30 KT217
Lotus I 11-02 4:00 KT217
Lotus I 11-05 2:00 KT217
Lotus A 11-26 2:00 KT217
Lotus A 12-05 5:00 KT217
FileExp B 10-08 12:00 KT205B
FileExp B 11-16 5:00 KT205B
FileExp E 11-19 4:00 KT205B
Fi leExp E 11-30 5:00 KT205B
ExpGraph 10-22 4:00 KT205B
ExpGraph 11-14 5:00 KT205B
Dos/Net B 10-01 1:00 KT217
Dos/Net B 10-10 4:00 KT217
Dos/Net B 10-12 5:00 KT217
Dos/Net I 10-19 4:00 KT217
Oos/Net I 11-07 5:00 KT217
Dos/Net A 11-12 2:00 KT217
Dos/Net A 11-28 5:00 KT217
VAX Courses
TCP/IP-1 9-26 10:00 KT205B
TCP/IP-1 I 9-27 1:30 KT205B
TCP/IP-2 A 10-3 2:00 KT205B
TCP/IP-2 A 10-4 10:30 KT205B
TCP/IP-2 A 10-5 2:00 KT205B
Course Descriptions
All PC courses are approx­imately
1 hour in length. VAX
courses are 90 minutes.
Preference is given to those
who preregister. Sign up by
contacting C . & DP at ext­ension
6194. After all those
preregistered are seated,
remaining seats are on a first­come-
first-served basis. Stu­dents
are welcome to attend
any of the these courses with
the exception of TCP /IP,
which is for faculty and staff
only. There is no charge.
VAX Courses
TCP/IP Telnet - remote login to
other hosts, SMTP - mail.
TCP/IP 2 FTP, Finger, how to
locate transfer files.
STATS A review of SPSS and SAS
access on the VAX. Includes
information on the new software
releases and basi c language
syntax.
New User Covers signing on, editing,
getting help, PHONE, MAIL and using
DCL to run programs, manage files,
etc.
PC Courses
DOS/NET An introduction to the
basic DOS commands (D I R, COPY,
DEL, REN, TYPE, PRINT, CD, RD, MD)
and concepts (files, directories,
data, printing, input output,
memory>; as well as IPFW network
access (LOGIN, MENUS)
File Express B - creating a
database, adding and deleting
records, searching for information
File Express E - Reports,
transferring data to and from
other programs, macros.
Expressgraph - An easy to use
program to create pie, bar and
line charts.
WordPerfect B - Includes
starting, help, entering,
deleting, saving, and printing.
WordPerfect I - Includes
blocks, spacing, fonts,
highlighting, spell check, and
thesaurus.
WordPerfect A - Includes
mail-merge, graphics and
formulas, sophisticated printing.
Lotus 1-2-3 B - Spreadsheet
concepts(cell, column, row,
formula), entering commands, data
and formulas
Lotus 1-2-3 I - Graphics
programs, formatting, printing,
ranges
Lotus 1-2-3 A - Database
functions and concepts
Consulting Schedule
Student consulting is avail­able
from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
weekdays and weekends dur­ing
lab hours. The office is
located in KT 204A, tele­phone
6210.
The Computing
Information Center
Opens
Alan Federman
A new facility has been
developed to aid your
computer usage. The facility
is called the Computing
Information Center (CIC). It
was created, in part, as a
response to the report
published by the Computers
Across the Curriculum Task
Force. The report
emphasized the importance
of a centralized information
warehouse, and the need to
work with individual
departments and faculty to
conceptualize, plan for, and
implement computing in the
curricula.
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 4
The CIC has a · browsing
library of software, doc­umentation,
and other
computer literature, a small
classroom that seats six, and
various types of computer
hardware. The CIC is staffed
by Jan Nichols, Coordinator
of User Support, for the
administrative computer mis­sion;
and Alan Federman
Coordinator of Academic
TIP #7: Log off when you're
away from your terminal
TIP #8: Clearly identify your­self
when using e-mail
TIP #9: Use batch jobs
TIP #10: Use VAX phone
with care
TIP #11: Use a "logout" com­mand
file
TIP #12: Know your
correspondent's username
Computing, for the academic If you're like me, you've been
mission. The phone number mesmerized by the cinematic
to reach Alan is 481-6031 and adventures of Indiana Jones.
Jan's is 6032. Visitors are
always welcome. Our hours
are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
12 Tips for better VAX
cluster computing
Eric J. Schlene,
IU Bloomington
The following article was downloaded
from University Computing Times
December, 1989 pages 1 0-13 through
BITNET from CCNEWS. The article
has several useful suggestions for
improving your VAX computing. It has
been edited, where appropriate, to
reflect our environment.
CONTENTS
Introduction
TIP # 1: Keep your directory
clear of files you don't need
TIP #2: Compute during off­peak
hours
TIP #3: (Not applicable to
the IPFW Cluster)
When faced by an unforeseen
peril, the heroic professor
often slaps the end of his
trusted bullwhip around some
overhead protrusion and
swings from the jaws of
certain death. Jones' bull­whip
is a wonderful tool. But
if you've ever tried to use a
bullwhip, you know that the
wonder is not in the whip; it's
in the good professor's skill as
an archaeologist.
Like any tool, the VAX
cluster becomes more useful
as you gain skill using it. As
you compute,· you. learn to
work more efficiently.
Because the VAX cluster is a
shared resource, your
computing has an impact on
the entire system. As a result,
you help others when you use
more efficient computing
techniques.
for their insights about cluster
usage. These tips and
suggestions may help you
become a more efficient VAX
cluster user.
TIP # 1: Keep your directory
clear of files you don't need
Many users create temporary
files to hold work in progress.
You should always remember
to delete these files when you
have finished with them. If
you don't, they will acc­umulate
in your directory,
waste valuable disk space,
and make searching a
directory listing difficult. You
can make deleting temporary
files easier if you name your
temporary files with a .TMP
extension (or any other easy­to-
remember extension).
You then can remove all
temporary files with one
command. Suppose you have
the temporary files
DOG.TMP;1, DOG.TMP;2,
and CAT.TMP;1 in your
current directory. Type at the
VMS $ prompt the DCL com­mand:
DELETE *.TMP;* <RETURN>
This will delete all three
temporary files.
TIP #2: Compute during off­peak
hours
TIP #4: Create a VAX Mail To increase awareness of Savvy computing on the VAX
subdirectory these computing techniques, cluster often requires you to
TIP #5: Delete your old mail UCS has asked several know the habits of others. For
messages advanced VAX cluster users instance, each day between
TIP #6: Compress your mail
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 5
noon and 1 p.m. interactive
use of the VAX cluster drops
dramatically as users break
for lunch. When these users
log out, the VAX cluster's
response time improves. This
decline in usage occurs again
between 5 and 7 pm. You can
make these "off-peak" hours
work to your advantage. By
taking a late lunch or a
desktop one, you'll ac­complish
more work and
enjoy faster response time
from the VAX cluster. Other
off-peak hours are on week
nights, or on the weekend.
TIP #3: (Not applicable to the
IPFW cluster.)
TIP #4: Create a VAX Mail
subdirectory
As you receive e-mail
messages, the VAX cluster
stores these messages in VAX
mail files. VAX mail files look
This command places all your
mail files in a subdirectory
called .MAIL. Stored here,
out of the way, they won't fill
up your main directory.
1, 2, 3, and 4 from your cur­rent
folder, type:
DELETE 1-4 <RETURN>
Once you have deleted all
TIP #5: Delete your old mail unnecessary messages, you
messages should compress your Mail
file (see below) to reclaim any
Unless you do regular unused disk space.
housekeeping on your ac-count,
your accumulated
VAX Mail messages can TIP #6: Compress your mail
completely fill your disk
space. This may make it
impossible for you to receive
other e-mail or do work on
your account. In addition,
messages you don't need take
up valuable disk space that
you or others could use more
effectively. There are several
ways to delete an old message.
To delete the message
currently displayed on your
screen, type at the MAIL>
prompt:
When you delete a VAX Mail
message, it is removed from
your list of messages.
However, the space on the
disk that the message
occupied remains "allocated."
VAX Mail will not write to this
allocated disk space. At least
once a week you should
compress your VAX Mail files
to regain this space for use. To
compress your VAX Mail
files, type at the MAIL>
prompt:
similar to the following when DELETE <RETURN>
COMPRESS <RETURN>
you list a file directory:
MAl L$0004009168B8F C 11 , MAl; 1
Over time these files can
accumulate and occupy the
majority of your file directory.
This can make finding other
files very difficult. To prevent
this, create a VAX Mail
subdirectory. To do so, log
into the VAX cluster and
invoke VAX Mail. At the
MAIL> prompt type:
SET MAIL_DIRECTORY (.mail]
<RETURN>
You can also delete a message
by directory number. For
example, to determine the
number of the message you
want to delete, list the
messages in your current
folder by typing:
DIRECTORY <RETURN>
The compression process may
take a few minutes, especially
if you have deleted many
messages. During the com­pression
process, VAX Mail
creates a new, smaller VAX
Mail file from the previous
VAX Mail file. VAX Mail
then renames the previous
Suppose you decide to delete Mail file MAIL.OLD. A
message 14. You can delete it series of messages chronicling
by typing: this process will appear on the
DELETE 14 <RETURN>
screen. When the MAIL>
prompt appears, exit VAX
Mail and delete the file
You can also delete a range of MAIL. OLD. At the VAX $
messages. To delete messages
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 6
prompt, type:
DELETE MAIL.OLD;* <RETURN>
If, during the compression
process, you receive a
message stating that you have
exceeded your disk quota, call
C & DP at 481-6194 for
assistance.
connections. If you're going
to be away from your
terminal, please log out.
Logging out releases a
connection so that another
user can access the VAX
cluster. Logging out also
prevents unauthorized access
to your files.
TIP #8: Clearly identify your­TIP
#7: Log off when youre self when using e-mail
away from your tenninal
At any moment during the
day, many VAX cluster users
are camping. This doesn't
mean that users are
computing from the Hoosier
National Forest. Rather,
camping occurs when users
log into the VAX cluster in the
morning and stay connected
throughout the day or for days
at a time, whether they're
using their account or not.
These users usually camp on
the system to monitor their
VAX Mail. This is an
acceptable use of the VAX
cluster. We are pleased that
these users feel so
comfortable with the VAX
cluster that they make it a part
of their office environment.
However, many users become
so comfortable with VAX
Mail that they forget they are
connected to a shared
computing resource. As a
result, some users forget to
log out of the cluster when
they leave their terminals to
attend meetings or to go to
lunch. This practice wastes
valuable VAX cluster
In order to clearly identify
yourself when using e-mail,
you should include your full
name with your message. You
might even include your tele­phone
number or other infor­mation.
Each semester more and
more students apply for VAX
cluster accounts. As a result,
many VAX cluster users have
similar usernames. Many of
these Smith-derived
usernames differed from one
another by only one letter or
character. Because there are
so many similar usemames,
Steven Allan Smith, when
sending an e-mail message,
cannot safely assume that his
username STASMITH will
clearly distinguish his
message from those of Steven
Arnold Smith or even Stanley
Smith.
One easy way to automatically
identify each of your e-mail
messages is to specify a VAX
Mail personal name text
string. When you do, this
string is appended to your
username on the "From" line
of each message you send. To
specify a personal name text
string from inside VAX Mail,
at the MAIL> prompt, type:
SET PERSONAL_NAME "text-string ..
<RETURN>
Replace "text-string" with
whatever information you
want to convey. For example,
Steven Allan Smith might
type:
SET PERSONAL_NAME "Steven Allan
Smith, esc, 855-0963" <RETURN>
Smith's e-mail messages will
now be announced by the fol­lowing
message:
New mail on node JADE from
GOLD::STASMITH
"Steven Allan Smith, esc, 855-0963•
TIP #9: Use batch jobs
Many VAX users execute
programs that require ext­ensive
central processing unit
(CPU) time. These programs
concentrate on making
calculations based on in­formation
stored in memory,
rather than executing input
and output functions. Such
programs are best suited for
batch jobs. Batch jobs
operate without terminal in­teraction.
In short, you can
start a batch job, then log out
and do something else while
the VAX cluster continues to
work on your job.
To understand batch jobs, you
need to know a bit about CPU
allocation. In any given min­ute,
many different processes
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 7
are sharing each VAX cluster
processor. Each CPU nor­mally
executes a process for a
fraction of a second then
moves to another process.
To determine which process
to execute, the CPU uses a
priority system. Batch jobs
normally have a priority level
just below interactive jobs.
This means that if both a
batch job and an interactive
job initiate processes sim­ultaneously,
the interactive
users process will be executed
first. Although this is usually a
minuscule advantage, it is
appropriate because there is
a person waiting for some sign
of life from the interactive
process. Such priorities also
ensure that the CPU is most
efficiently used by scheduling
batch jobs to consume any
unused CPU time.
If you execute CPU intensive
programs, you should con­sider
using batch jobs. Using
batch jobs is more than
applying appropriate tech­niques;
its being a considerate
user. One person running a
non-interactive program in an
interactive mode can dra­matically
reduce response
time for himself or herself and
all other interactive users.
TIP# 10: Use VAX Phone with
care
you communicate telephone­style
over the VAX cluster. It
opens a two-way channel
between you and another
user; each can see the others
keystrokes appear in real time
on the screen.
However, some users view
VAX Phone as intrusive
because it disrupts the screen
display and demands imm­ediate
action. When you
initiate a VAX Phone call,
your intended recipient's
terminal beeps and displays
an announcement every ten
seconds until that VAX
Phone, that user will see the
message: That person's phone is
unplugged
(!NO BROADCAST).
You may also include the line
$SET Broadcast=NOPHONE in
your LOGIN.COM file. To
reconnect your phone, type at
the VMS $ prompt the DCL
command:
SET BROADCAST=PHONE
You will now be able to
receive VAX Phone calls
again.
Phone call is either answered TIP # 11: Use a logout
or rejected. This can quickly command file
anger some users. Users who
are unfamiliar with VAX
Phone may not know the
procedures to stop an
incoming call from ringing.
Users who are very busy are
annoyed because they must
take time to respond to the
call. As a VAX Phone caller,
you should restrict your use of
VAX Phone to conversations
with users whom you know.
You may want to make prior
contact with these users to
confirm that they will accept
your VAX Phone calls. On
the other hand, as a VAX
Phone recipient, you can
unplug your phone to prevent
annoying VAX Phone calls.
Type at the VMS $ prompt:
SET BROADCAST=NOPHONE
By creating a DCL command
file that you use each time you
log out of the VAX cluster,
you can automate some of the
suggestions listed in this
article. You must name this
command file with the
extension .COM. Such a
command file can contain any
number of VAX DCL
commands. When the com­mand
file is executed, VMS
reads the file and sequentially
executes each command.
Suppose you always name
your temporary files with a
. TMP extension. You could
automate the removal of
these files. To do so, use a text
editor to create the file
LATER.COM. In this file
enter the commands:
VAX Phone is a great tool for Now, when a user attempts to $ DEL *.TMP;*
quick, interactive comm-unication
between VAX contact you using VAX $ LO
cluster users. VAX Phone lets
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 8
and save your file. The next
time you want to log out of the
VAX cluster, type at the VMS
prompt:
@LATER <RETURN>
VMS will then execute the
LATER.COM file. The
.COM file will first delete
every version of every file with
a .TMP extension. It will then
log you out of your VAX
cluster session. You can use
this technique to automate
any process executable using
DCL commands.
TIP #12: Know your
correspondent's usemame
Be sure you know your
correspondent's user-name.
E-Mail IDs
Steve Worona,
Cornell University,
May/June Issue of the CIT
(Cornell Information Technologies)
SLW@CORNELLA. BITNET
The plane was late and the
hotel lost your reservation,
but finally you're standing at
the conference registration
desk. Hurriedly you grab a
sheaf of announcements, pick
up a name tag, and write BOB
after Hi! My Name Is. You
join the mingling crowd, spy a
friendly face, and steal a
glance at her tag: "Hi! My
Name Is:
lwi lma%-zorch !foo. a7@
new#relay.hairnet". Oops, it
looks like you're at the wrong
conference!
incomprehensible and un­pronounceable
electronic
addresses will be gone in a few
years. Instead, you'll be able
to send mail to "Jane Smith at
Cornell" or "Bob Jones at
Xerox." If there are two Jane
Smith's or Bob Jones's in the
specified organization, youll
be notified immediately and
shown the organization's
"White Pages" so that you can
select the appropriate rec­ipient.
But the standards and
software that will make this
transition possible remain in
their early stages of dev­elopment.
At least for a while
longer, we'll have to deal with
the @!%#!@# addresses
you see in today's electronic
mail.
The Basics
It is not uncommon for many In the universe of electronic
users to have the same last mail devotees, names like: Electronic addresses aren't
inherently complicated, in
fact, they're a lot like phone
numbers. For example, if you
wanted to call my office in
Caldwell Hall, you'd dial one
of the following:
name. It's never safe to
assume that ones last name is Jscc1789@CORNEU.C.aT.CORNELL
ones username. EDU"
When in doubt, use the are often much more familiar
electronic address directory than "Jane Smith." People
available on the VAX cluster. have been known to
To use the directory from the
$ prompt, lookup name,
where name is the person's
last name.
communicate by e-mail for
years without ever meeting
each other or even talking by
phone. When a face-to- face
encounter finally does occur,
cries of "Oh, so you're
JSCC1789!" are to be ex-pected.
And yes, at computer
5-8308 from a phone on campus
255-8308 from a phone in Ithaca
(607) 255-8308 from New York City
Roughly speaking, these are
analogous to the addresses
you might use to send me elec­tronic
mail:
conferences people really do SLW from the CORNELLA computer
include their electronic
SLW@CORNELLA from most other
addresses on their name tags. campus computers
You may be relieved to know SLW@CORNELLA.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
from most computers in the world
that this cryptic code of
Parity Check SepVOct 1990 page 9
The most widely used form of
electronic address consists of
two parts separated by an @
sign, for example, wjones@
geneva• or charly@ albatross.
carolina.edu. The part after the
@ specifies a particular
computer, and the part before
the @ designates a mailbox
(which you can think of as a
person) associated with that
computer. When you send
electronic mail, software on
your own system looks at the
second part the name of the
recipients computer and
figures out how to route your
mail towards that destination.
When the mail arrives,
software on the target system
looks at the first part of the
address and figures out how to
deliver the mail to the
recipient.
By any other name
How do you name a com­puter?
If you only have one
computer, or if you have
several computers that aren't
interconnected, naming isn't
an issue. There's the Physics
Department computer or the
new Vax or the 360. But start
Each national network has personal computers as small
developed its own technical as Apple Macintoshes and
and administrative frame- IBM PCs. This means that
work for naming the com- any single organization might
puters on that network. In the easily have hundreds or even
case of BITNET, each thousands of Internet sys­machine
has an 8-character terns. A BITNET-type
name whose first few letters naming scheme would be
identify the member ins- totally unworkable in such an
titution. Examples at Corn- environment. Fortunately,
ell are CORNELLA, this problem was anticipated
CORNELLC, CRNLV AX5, years ago, and the Internet
and CRNLGSM. The 8- established a system of hierar­character
limit is a restriction chical "domain names."
imposed by the IBM
communications software A hierarchical domain name
upon which BITNET was consists of a sequence of
originally based. A new words separated by dots, such
BITNET site can generally as MvaxS.cit.cornell.edu. • The
appropriate to itself any names become more general
prefix not already in use. As as they proceed from left to
long as the BITNET names right, much as a postal
for all computers in that address does: "123 Any
organization begin with the Street, Rochester, Minn­selected
characters, there will esota, USA." The beauty of
be no name clashes with any the Internet scheme is that
other BITNET sites. There naming authority can be
must, of course, be some distributed within an
central coordination of names organization in as central­within
each BITNET member ized or decentralized a
organization. Since most
computers directly connected
to BITNET ·are relatively
large, however, most sites
have few enough BITNET
computers that name man­agement
isnt a significant
problem.
fashion as that organization
desires. Thus, the Internet
has conferred upon Cornell
University ownership of the
cornell.edu domain.
Within Cornell, several sub­domains
have been defined.
One of these is "cit.
to build up even small
networked clusters and you
have to be at least a bit more
precise: V AXl, V AX2,
IBM360A, CYBERMATH. Another major network in cornell.edu" (containing the
Of course, when you then try which Cornell participates is names of all of Cornell
to link these clusters into called "the TCP!IP Internet," Information Technologies
national networks, you
quickly discover that there are
a few hundred machines
called V AXl, and this causes
problems.
formerly known as "Arpanet" computer systems) and
and today often called simply another is "cs.cornell.edu"
"the Internet." Computers of (with names of computers in
all sizes can attach to ~he the Computer Science
Internet, including desktop Department). The admin-
Parity Check SepVOct 1990 page 1 0
t
'-
istrator of one sub-domain
may assign names without
concern for what has been
assigned in the other sub­domain.
There might thus be
both a •vax1.cit. cornell.edu• and
a •vax1.cs.cornell.edu•, just as
there are both a Rochester,
Minnesota, and a Rochester,
New York.
As you may have noticed,
some computers are attached
to more than one network,
and therefore have more than
one name. For example, the
system that's called
CORNELLA on BITNET is
known as "cornella.cit.
cornell.edu" on the Internet.
Because there are gateways
cross-connecting the net­works,
it's possible to send
mail from the Internet to a
BITNET-named computer,
and vice-versa. In the fullness
of time, the radical naming
differences between com­puters
on different networks
will surely disappear. Even
today, in fact, many mail
systems recognize the
pseudo-domain ".BITNET,"
so that, for example, the
address "SLW@CORNELLA.BIT­NET"
would be considered
legitimate.
You Can't Get There from
Here
there? How, in fact, does your When the mail arrives, the
computer even know that "PLEBE%ANNAPOLIS" part in­MARYLAND
is the actual structs MARYLAND to
name of some other computer redirect the file to
at all? Again, the various PLEBE@ANNAPOLIS. In prin­networks
have solved this ciple, this process may
problem in different ways, cascade, producing add­linking
member computers by resses such as "MICH­means
of carefully main- ELLE%SORBONNE%PARIS%­tained
and distributed FRANCE@EUROPE". But the
"routing tables", "name "%hack," as it's called, hasn't
servers," and an assortment of been universally adopted, and
other databases and software. so there's no guarantee that
For the most part, you don't each computer in the path will
need to know or care about understand it. More im­the
details· of these portantly, as network
techniques. Every now and technology matures, routing
then, however, you'll find the software is getting smarter,
clever tricks developed over and the need for such "explicit
the years by network gurus path routing" is declining.
intruding into your world.
For one network (called
Imagine, for example, that UUCP or, frequently but
you want to send mail to erroneously, USENET),
PLEBE@ANNAPOLIS, but explicit path routing is
for some reason your congenital. The UUCP
computer system has no network grew from a
information about the com- collection of computers
puter called ANNAPOLIS. running the Unix operating
You know, however, that the system. A standard feature of
MARYLAND computer Unix is a program that allows
(which your computer knows one Unix system to dial into
well) is in direct contact with another in order to exchange
ANNAPOLIS. (At-INA- files. This Unix-to-Unix­POLIS
might be a recent Copy (UUCP) program led to
addition to the network or a the formation of an enormous
"private" system announced daisy-chain of computers
to only a limited subset of the along which mail hops from
network.) In this case, your site to site until it reaches its
correspondent might tell you destination.
to address mail to:
Suppose you're sending mail Each computer in such a
to a computer called •PLEBEo/oANNAPOUS@MARYLAND-. network needs to be aware of
MARYLAND. How does the only its direct neighbor or
software on your computer The "@MARYLAND" part neighbors, the computer(s) to
figure out which computer tells your computer to send which it places phone calls.
this is or the path from here to the mail to MARYLAND. Electronic addresses there-
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 11
fore generally specify the
entire path from sender to
recipient, including every step
along the way. In UUCP
syntax, an exclamation point
("!", which printers call a
''bang" or "shriek") separates
adjacent computers, leading
to "bang addresses" like:
"red!blue!green!orange!yellow!
sylvia."
In this example, the "red"
computer is asked to transfer
the mail to "blue," which in
turn hands the mail to "green,"
and so on. The ultimate
destination is mailbox "sylvia"
on computer "yellow." Again,
improving technology is
easing much of the UUCP
addressing burden. On CIT's
IBM mainframes, for ex­ample,
most instances of an
address like this could be
written simply as: "SYLVIA@
YELLOW.UUCP!
Conclusion
tremendous potential for
increased productivity and
enhanced communication
cannot be ignored. Give it a
shot!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CCNEWS Copyright Notice
The above article courtesy of
the:"Articles database of CCNEWS,
the Electronic Forum for Campus
Computing Newsletter Editors, a BIT­NET-
based service of EDUCOM. •
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Active Query
Mark Franke
Do I need a new PC to access
SIS? This question is asked
frequently of C & DP staff
when departments are
considering buying new PCs.
Two points should be kept in
mind. First, any pre-existing
PC with an IRMA or LAN
card will be capable of
accessing SIS. Second,
optimal performance is
achievable only with a 386
based system. In other words,
any PC will be. usable but only
386SX or better PCs should
Consider the following typical
workstation. A 386SX with
4Mb of RAM running
DESQView 386 can have
open windows for e-mail, SIS
mainf:·ame access, word
processing, and whatever
other software is needed.
Each program is loaded once
in the morning and then
switched to by a simple two­keystroke
series.
These powerful workstations
offer other advantages as
well. Most new application
software coming out today
requires either extended or
expanded memory to run
optimally, or even at all.
Lotus 1-2-3 version 3.0
requires a full megabyte
(1,024Kb) of memory, and
version 2.2 leaves little room
for spreadsheets if expanded
memory is not available.
When combined with a
special memory manager, like
QEMM from Quarterdeck,
386 machines have the ability
to move network shells and
The world of computer be purchased in the future. h · d
networks and electronic mail ot er terminate-an -stay-resident
programs into high
is exceptionally dynamic. The 386 class machines offer
Some of the details men- RAM, the nebulous memory
a number of advantages. area between DOSs 640Kb
tioned above would have When used with a
been incorrect six months sophisticated memory man­ago;
many others will be agement program, they can
obsolete in a year or two. And use all available memory
yet more and more people rather than be limited to
nation- and world-wide are 640Kb. And with an
and the 1Mb starting point for
extended memory. Using a
properly optimized QEMM
driver, a workstation can have
as much as 590Kb available
for applications... after
becoming regular users of e- intelligent windowing 1o ggi·n g I·n to t h e networ k .
mail and associated program, they can run
technologies. Despite ob- multiple applications con- All these features make a 386
scure addressing and currently. PC h · h 1
imperfect connectivity, the more t an JUSt t e P at-form
of the future. It is the
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 12
right workstation for today.
This is why C & DP so strongly
recommends against buying
any more 286 PC~. At today's
prices a 386SX costs
approximately $200 more
than a slower, nearly obsolete
286.
Meanwhile, if you have an
older class machine, we will
make it work for you when
New SIS comes up. Just don't
buy any more of them. If you
would like to learn more
about the power of 386 class
computers, I would be happy
to provide a demonstration. I
can be reached at userid
FRANKE on any of the
campus e-mail systems, or by
calling extension 6258.
The basic set of manuals now name, the statistical package
consists of: now has, you guessed it, a new
set of manuals:
SAS Language: Reference
($20.95) SPSS Reference Guide
SAS/STAT Users Guide v. 1 SPSS Base System Users
and 2 ($37.95) Guide
SAS Procedures Guide SPSS Advanced Statistics ~~~~~~~~~~~
($17.95) User's Guide
In addition, there are two new
task-oriented guides:
SAS Language and Pro­cedures:
Introduction (for
beginners, unknown price)
SAS Language and Pro­cedures:
Usage ($16.95)
Users of the SASBATCH
(Editor's Note: Later in this issue, we method of submitting a SAS
have listed some recommendations
for future PC purchases.) job for batch processing
Just as for SAS, users of the
ST ATS method of submitting
a SPSS job for batch process­ing
should not notice any
major changes, although
there have been numerous
enhancements to existing
procedures. Copies of the
new manuals have been or­dered
and will soon be placed
in the terminal clusters' docu­mentation
racks. If you are
interested in further details,
you may contact Bill Baden at
6202 or use the standard in­teractive
system:
Statistics Programs
Updated
Bill Baden
New SAS 6.06
The statistical package, SAS,
should not notice any major
changes, although there have
been numerous en­hancements
to existing
procedures. Copies of the
new manuals have been
purchased and will soon be
placed in the terminal
clusters' documentation
racks. If you are interested in
further details, you may
examine C & DP's copy of
SAS Technical Report P-205:
Changes and Enhancements
or contact Bill Baden at 6202.
has been upgraded from 5.18 New SPSS 4_0
to 6.06. With this revision
$ SPSS/NOMANAGER
SPSS> HELP.
SPSS > FINISH.
to obtain online specifics
about each procedure.
/
users will note one major Version 3.0 of SPSS-X has
change: a whole new set of been upgraded to version 4.0 1
/
·.
manuals. of SPSS. Be,sides the new
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 13
Reece's Pieces
Rebecca Reece Williams
VVordPerfect does not mark
the changes word-by-word. It
marks them phrase-by-
Redline and Strikeout
WordPerfect 5.1
zn phrase. Practical hint: Make
a backup copy of the
document before making the
Computing and Data
Processing is similar to many
other departments in that
documents are read by many
pairs of eyes before they
finally are sent out. Suppose
you send a copy of a document
on disk to a co-worker and ask
for his or her input. This
person revises the document,
stores, and returns it. Using
the Document Compare
feature you can retrieve the
changed document to your
screen and ask VVP to
compare and mark the
passages on the screen that
differ from the original.
A second scenario would be if
you retrieve a document to
your screen, make several
changes yourself and want to
know how it compares to the
original. You can use the
Document Compare feature
to mark the changed phrases.
A third way to use Document
Compare would be in its
printed form. VVhen C & DP
writes the Parity Check, many
different people see it.
Changes are made and then it
is redistributed. By using
Document Compare and then
printing the document, these
same readers would only have
to review those phrases which
are changed.
comparison.
To make the comparison
between a document on
screen and a document on
disk, follow these simple
steps:
1. Press Mark Text (Alt-F5)
2. Select Generate (Option 6)
3. Select Compare Screen and
Disk Documents and Add
Redline and Strikeout
(Option 2).
4. Enter the name of the
document on disk that you
want to compare with the
document on your screen. If
the document currently
displayed has been saved, its
filename is displayed as the
default.
{Author's Note: If you have made
changes to the document on your
screen and wish to compare it with the
document stored on-disk, simply
press Enter.)
After making the comparison,
you may want to restore the
document on the screen the
way it was before the
comparison. To have
VVordPerfect remove the
markings, follow these steps:
1. Press Mark Text (Alt-F5)
2. Select Generate (Option 6)
3. Select Remove Redline ·
Markings and Strikeout Text
from Document (Option 1)
4. Type Y. (Yes)
This deletes the Redline and
Strikeout codes (and the text
found lJetween them), and the
notations around the phrases
and leaves the cursor at the
end of the document.
If many differences were
marked, restoring a com­pared
document to its original
state can be a little com­plicated.
As a result, if you are
comparing two documents
you know you will want to
keep, it's a good idea to have
another copy of both doc­uments
stored on disk before
making the comparison. You
can then exit the compared
document and retrieve the
original easily.
VVhile the two documents are
being compared, a counter
appears at the left end of the
status line. After the
comparison is finished, the
differences between the two
documents are marked and
the cursor is placed at the
beginning of your document.
The differences are marked in
three ways.
1. Added phrases are
marked with a pair of Redline
codes [REDLN][redln]
placed around the phrase that
was added.
2. Deleted phrases are
marked with a pair of
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 14
Strikeout codes [STKOUT]
[ stkout] placed around the
text that was deleted.
3. Moved phrases are
marked by inserting THE
FOLLOWING TEXT WAS MOVED
before and THE PRECEDING TEXT
WAS MOVED after the phrase.
The Redline and Strikeout
codes do not appear on the
normal screen, but can be
seen in one of several ways, in
Reveal Codes (Alt, F3) or
<F11> depending upon your
keyboard, by printing the
document (Shift, F7) or by
Viewing the Document (Shift,
F7 + Option 6).
The appearance of Redline
and Strikeout text on the
normal screen, on the other
hand, depends upon your
monitor and display card
capabilities. If they are not
displayed, you may want to
modify your settings for
Redline and Strikeout att­ributes
on your set-up screen.
To change these attributes
follow these steps:
1. Press Setup (Shift, F 1)
2. Press Display (Option 2)
3. Press Screen Colors
(Option 1)
4. Change your screen colors
to easily identify the Redline
and Strikeout text.
"A phrase is defined as the
text found between the two
phrase markers. The phrase
markers WordPerfect uses
are those items which
normally punctuate sen­tences,
including punctuation
marks, Hard Return Codes,
Footnote codes, Endnote
codes, and the end of the
document." (WordPerfect
Reference Manual p. 136.)
The compari~on does not,
however, include any text
which is found within graphic
boxes, headers, or footers. It
is important to keep in mind
that since punctuation may
vary, the phrases Word­Perfect
marks may not always
correspond to the sentences
in your current document.
If you have any questions or
other helpful tips, pass them
along and I will be glad to
publish them in this column.
Our topic for the next issue
will be Repeat Value and
what using the <ESCAPE>
key can accomplish.
Workstation
Configuration
At a minimum, the following
specifications are strongly
recommended for new micro
computers purchased by
departments using University
funds:
386SX System
40 Mb Hard Drive
One further note: the phrases Either 3.5 or 5.25 High Density
used as a basis for comparison Floppy Drive (3.5• drive
II preferred)
are genTera Y senhtences nolt 16-Bit VGA video card with at least
words. o quote t e manua , 256Kb
Color VGA monitor
4Mb RAM (System Memory)
3 or more 16-Bit expansion slots
Desqview 386
Qemm or similar memory manager
DOS4.01
The following are additional
systems and enchancements to
be considered, if funds are
available and processing needs
warrant
386 standard system with
progressively faster processor
speeds (20,25,33 MHz)
486 System--This level of micro
computer is relatively new and may
be considered for computing
intensive applications
65Mb RLL hard drive (which
usually costs the same as 40Mb
MFM) or larger drives may be
purchased based on expected
usage and funds
Multisynch monitor capable of
1 024 x 768 for higher resolution
requirements such as desktop
publishing and graphics
Both 3.5 and 5.25 high density
floppy drives. Some will find both
sizes necessary when using software
residing on 3.5 and 5.25 disks. At
least one machine should have this
capability in each department for
disk conversion.
512Kb video card RAM
Math Co-Processor
Mouse
Microsoft Windows 3.0
~111111111111 ....
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 15
Computing and Data Processing
Indiana University Purdue University
at Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne Indiana 46805-1499
Subscription
Form
------------
If you wish to start recieving
PARITY CHECK. please send the
following to C & DP, Kettler Hall
204K.
NAME
DEPT
BUILDING
ROOM
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New Arrivals
A new six-platter Pioneer CD-ROM
drive has arrived at the CIC. This
drive will be used to access the Ziff­Davis
Computer library, a compilation
of 40 of the most popular current
computer periodicals. This facility
will accelerate research on computer
topics. The system was being used
from the first day it was operational.
C& DP People
Over the summer, C & DP has hired
two new computer operators. They
are Amy Luthe and Connie Rhodes.
Both have worked as computer
operators in the private sector before
comming to IPFW.
Useful Numbers:
Dial-Ups - 481 - 6905
Consulting 481 -6210
Operators 481 - 6207
General Info 481 -6194
C I C 481 - 6030
Academic 481 -6031
Administrative 481 - 6032
Hours (Kettler)
Mon- Fri 7 am - 12 midnight
Saturday 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Sunday 12 noon - 1 0 pm
Closed: Memorial Day, Labor Day
Weekend, Thanksgiving, Christmas,
New Year's Day.
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990

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Parity Check
Indiana University- Purdue University at Fort Wayne
Computing and Data Processing Newsletter September/October, 1990
In This Issue:
Editor's Corner 1
Director's Update 2
Reminder to New Faculty 3
Computing Information Center Opens 4
12 Tips for Better VAX Cluster Computing 5
E-maiiiD's 9
Active Query 12
Statistics Programs Updated 13
Reece's Pieces 14
Workstation Configuration 15
Subscription Form 16
Parity Check is published six times a year by Computing and
Data Processing at Indiana University- Purdue University, at
Fort Wayne, 2101 Coliseum Blvd. East, Fort Wayne, Indiana
46805. The Editor is Alan Federman. Software used includes
WordStar, PC-Write, and Aldus Pagemaker. Hardware in­cludes
an IBM PS/2 model GO and an HP LaserJet II.
Editor's Corner -
Changes Over Summer Vacation
Alan Federman
As usual, another summer has blazed by.
This one has been particularly exciting. One
of the highlights has been winning a 4th place
in the annual NACUBO (National
Association of College and University
Business Officers) Cost Reduction Incentive
Awards. The $2500 prize was accepted in
Hawaii this summer by John Carnaghi. This
award recognized the innovations developed
for our public PC Clusters. Of course, what
was once new and shiny, has now begun to
show the signs of age. We soon will need to
upgrade and expand this facility.
The VAX cluster gained several new pieces
of software, as well as several significant
upgrades. Among the new arrivals are a tape
management system and file archiving
(helpful to those with large data sets) and PV­Wave
(a scientific/engineering visualization
system). Among the updates are new
releases of SAS and SPSS. Courses
familiarizing you with these updates will be
offered. (See the course schedule in this
issue.)
The wiring of the campus is almost complete.
All thirteen servers have been installed, and
only minor wiring needs to be finished in the
Library and CM. The PC network allows
intercampus electronic mail.
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 1
Upgrades to the PC Clusters
include replacing the
monochrome monitors in
Kettler 217 with color
monitors. Lotus was up­graded
to Version 2.2.
The Computing Information
Center (CIC) officially
opened this month. You
received invitations to visit
this facility. (See related
article later in this issue).
computing capabilities and capability. Communications
changes at IPFW. For our between the individual
VAX users, information is networks is accomplished
also conveyed in the form of over the campus Ethernet
announcements at log-in time network. Our next objective
and can be reviewed at the $ is to extend this connectivity
prompt using the "Announce" to the IBM mainframe and
and "News" commands. eliminate future IRMA board
Director's Update
R. H. Ritchie
Library Access System
FW-LIRN is our library on­line
access system. At the
direction of the Library staff,
a local implementation of a
variety of library services got
underway this summer. This
is in addition to the IU on-line
purchases. Software selection
and testing of this IBM
gateway server is in process
and we hope to make this new
access capability available by
late November.
Workstations
Welcome back! To the new catalog system installed last We are often asked about
faculty and staff who have just January. FW-LIRN resides
joined IPFW we offer a on the VAX computer and is
special welcome and wish you menu driven for ease of use.
the best as we all begin the Functions currently available
new school year. For our include a document delivery
newcomers, this newsletter, service, direct access to the IU
Parity Check, is printed bi- card catalog, and access to
monthly by C & DP during the other universities' catalogs. A
school year. It is our primary course reserve system is
means of communicating nearing completion. Look for
computing information to the information from the Library
community. You will find about orientation classes
articles dealing with soon. FW-LIRN is available
mainframe computing, micro to faculty, staff and students,
computing, new software or with or without VAX
workstation or micro­computer
configurations
prior to purchase. Please take
a moment to read Mark
Franke's column entitled
Active Query on page 12. In
the article he suggests a
minimum 386SX level of
micro computer be pur­chased.
Also in this edition of
Parity Check we have
included a suggested configu­ration
and a list of optional
enhancements.
changes to existing software, accounts. To-date, there are The importance of these
software development status, 227 individuals signed up to individual workstations as the
such as the Student use the LIRN system; of those cornerstone for academic and
Information System, and 227, 138 are students. administrative computing,
much more. Between becomes increasingly evident
editions of Parity Check, we Micro Computer Networks almost daily. For some, the
may find it necessary to workstation alone will suffice
address specific topics. This This summer we completed while others will use it to
is achieved by our flier called the last installation of the 13 reach out for additional
Random Bytes. Both doc- PC networks, connecting information and services.
uments will help you with your approximately 400 devices The IPFW Information
computing experiences and and giving the campus a mkro Environment, with its library
help keep you aware of computer based E-mail on-line access, is just one of
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 2
such services. Reaching out Learning Resource Center.
to the course reserve list or The videos come in two parts.
inter-library loan service, Each lasts approximately 4
downloading i!lformation hours.
our reliance on paper
documentation in favor of
electronic documentation. An
example of this is the LIRN
(Library Information Re­trieval
Network). We are
adding an on-line help system
from a particular database or
searching the card catalog of
some distant University will
bring a new dimension to the
scholars work here at IPFW.
Reminder to
New Faculty
Alan N. Federman
Here is a reminder of some of
the many services provided
by C & DP. Information on
any of these may be obtained
from the CIC.
Tows of Facilities
We will schedule tours of the
machine room to groups of 20
or less. This tour includes the
VAX, IBM 4381, PC Servers,
communications, input/
output, security and en­vironmental
factors. The tour
lasts about 30 minutes. This
tour is frequently given to
prospective faculty
candidates and beginning
Computer Science students.
Vuleo WordPerfect Cowse
We recently purchased a
Dial ups
Dial-up access to the VAX to the PC Cluster. Electronic
cluster, including remote HELP has existed on the VAX
access to the IUPUI, and IBM 4381 for some time
Bloomington and West already. In addition, the DOC,
Lafayette campuses, is IPFW, EDTCAI, and
available 24 hours a day, 7 VMSCAI commands on the
days a week. Twelve lines are VAX give instruction or
available. The number is 481- deliver documents. We will
6905. Modem parameters be adding a CAl (computer
are 2400, 1200, or 300 baud; aided instruction) package to
8 bits, 1 stop ·bit, no parity. the IBM 4381 shortly. This
Access to the IBM 4381 or the package will cover XED IT
PC networks is not possible (the IBM text editor).
through dial ups.
Consulting
The student consultants (ext
6210) can answer many of
the common computing
questions you may have. If
you are not able to contact a
student consultant, E-mail is
a fairly quick way · to get
information. Send your
questions to CONSULTING
on the VAX. We can
schedule appointments for
detailed scien~ific, statistical,
or data base computing
requests. The point of
contact for these requests is
Alan Federman in the CIC.
C & DP will continue to
provide paper docu-mentation.
All bound
documents are available in the
bookstore. Short pamphlets
on many of our common
packages and services are
available free of charge from
racks in various locations.
Schedules
Hours for C &DP Facilities
Mon. -Fri.
Saturday
Sunday
LABS
7:00am to 12am
8:30am to 5:30pm
12:30pm to 10pm
Main Office and CIC
WordPerfect Introduction Documentation
Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 5 pm Video. You may sign this out.
Each video comes complete Documentation exists in
with a disk and workbook. many places and forms. We
You will need to borrow a are always trying to reduce
half inch VHS VCR from the
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 3
C &: DP short courses
PC Courses
Title Level Date Time Room
WordPerf B 09-26 3:30 KT217
WordPerf B 10-05 4:00 KT217
WordPerf B 10-24 5:00 KT217
WordPerf I 10-15 12:00 KT217
WordPerf I 10-31 4:00 KT217
WordPerf I 11-09 5:00 KT217
WordPerf A 11-16 4:00 KT217
WordPerf A 12-03 1:00 KT217
Lotus B 09-28 3:30 KT217
Lotus B 10-03 4:00 KT217
Lotus B 10-26 5:00 KT217
Lotus I 10-17 3:30 KT217
Lotus I 11-02 4:00 KT217
Lotus I 11-05 2:00 KT217
Lotus A 11-26 2:00 KT217
Lotus A 12-05 5:00 KT217
FileExp B 10-08 12:00 KT205B
FileExp B 11-16 5:00 KT205B
FileExp E 11-19 4:00 KT205B
Fi leExp E 11-30 5:00 KT205B
ExpGraph 10-22 4:00 KT205B
ExpGraph 11-14 5:00 KT205B
Dos/Net B 10-01 1:00 KT217
Dos/Net B 10-10 4:00 KT217
Dos/Net B 10-12 5:00 KT217
Dos/Net I 10-19 4:00 KT217
Oos/Net I 11-07 5:00 KT217
Dos/Net A 11-12 2:00 KT217
Dos/Net A 11-28 5:00 KT217
VAX Courses
TCP/IP-1 9-26 10:00 KT205B
TCP/IP-1 I 9-27 1:30 KT205B
TCP/IP-2 A 10-3 2:00 KT205B
TCP/IP-2 A 10-4 10:30 KT205B
TCP/IP-2 A 10-5 2:00 KT205B
Course Descriptions
All PC courses are approx­imately
1 hour in length. VAX
courses are 90 minutes.
Preference is given to those
who preregister. Sign up by
contacting C . & DP at ext­ension
6194. After all those
preregistered are seated,
remaining seats are on a first­come-
first-served basis. Stu­dents
are welcome to attend
any of the these courses with
the exception of TCP /IP,
which is for faculty and staff
only. There is no charge.
VAX Courses
TCP/IP Telnet - remote login to
other hosts, SMTP - mail.
TCP/IP 2 FTP, Finger, how to
locate transfer files.
STATS A review of SPSS and SAS
access on the VAX. Includes
information on the new software
releases and basi c language
syntax.
New User Covers signing on, editing,
getting help, PHONE, MAIL and using
DCL to run programs, manage files,
etc.
PC Courses
DOS/NET An introduction to the
basic DOS commands (D I R, COPY,
DEL, REN, TYPE, PRINT, CD, RD, MD)
and concepts (files, directories,
data, printing, input output,
memory>; as well as IPFW network
access (LOGIN, MENUS)
File Express B - creating a
database, adding and deleting
records, searching for information
File Express E - Reports,
transferring data to and from
other programs, macros.
Expressgraph - An easy to use
program to create pie, bar and
line charts.
WordPerfect B - Includes
starting, help, entering,
deleting, saving, and printing.
WordPerfect I - Includes
blocks, spacing, fonts,
highlighting, spell check, and
thesaurus.
WordPerfect A - Includes
mail-merge, graphics and
formulas, sophisticated printing.
Lotus 1-2-3 B - Spreadsheet
concepts(cell, column, row,
formula), entering commands, data
and formulas
Lotus 1-2-3 I - Graphics
programs, formatting, printing,
ranges
Lotus 1-2-3 A - Database
functions and concepts
Consulting Schedule
Student consulting is avail­able
from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
weekdays and weekends dur­ing
lab hours. The office is
located in KT 204A, tele­phone
6210.
The Computing
Information Center
Opens
Alan Federman
A new facility has been
developed to aid your
computer usage. The facility
is called the Computing
Information Center (CIC). It
was created, in part, as a
response to the report
published by the Computers
Across the Curriculum Task
Force. The report
emphasized the importance
of a centralized information
warehouse, and the need to
work with individual
departments and faculty to
conceptualize, plan for, and
implement computing in the
curricula.
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 4
The CIC has a · browsing
library of software, doc­umentation,
and other
computer literature, a small
classroom that seats six, and
various types of computer
hardware. The CIC is staffed
by Jan Nichols, Coordinator
of User Support, for the
administrative computer mis­sion;
and Alan Federman
Coordinator of Academic
TIP #7: Log off when you're
away from your terminal
TIP #8: Clearly identify your­self
when using e-mail
TIP #9: Use batch jobs
TIP #10: Use VAX phone
with care
TIP #11: Use a "logout" com­mand
file
TIP #12: Know your
correspondent's username
Computing, for the academic If you're like me, you've been
mission. The phone number mesmerized by the cinematic
to reach Alan is 481-6031 and adventures of Indiana Jones.
Jan's is 6032. Visitors are
always welcome. Our hours
are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
12 Tips for better VAX
cluster computing
Eric J. Schlene,
IU Bloomington
The following article was downloaded
from University Computing Times
December, 1989 pages 1 0-13 through
BITNET from CCNEWS. The article
has several useful suggestions for
improving your VAX computing. It has
been edited, where appropriate, to
reflect our environment.
CONTENTS
Introduction
TIP # 1: Keep your directory
clear of files you don't need
TIP #2: Compute during off­peak
hours
TIP #3: (Not applicable to
the IPFW Cluster)
When faced by an unforeseen
peril, the heroic professor
often slaps the end of his
trusted bullwhip around some
overhead protrusion and
swings from the jaws of
certain death. Jones' bull­whip
is a wonderful tool. But
if you've ever tried to use a
bullwhip, you know that the
wonder is not in the whip; it's
in the good professor's skill as
an archaeologist.
Like any tool, the VAX
cluster becomes more useful
as you gain skill using it. As
you compute,· you. learn to
work more efficiently.
Because the VAX cluster is a
shared resource, your
computing has an impact on
the entire system. As a result,
you help others when you use
more efficient computing
techniques.
for their insights about cluster
usage. These tips and
suggestions may help you
become a more efficient VAX
cluster user.
TIP # 1: Keep your directory
clear of files you don't need
Many users create temporary
files to hold work in progress.
You should always remember
to delete these files when you
have finished with them. If
you don't, they will acc­umulate
in your directory,
waste valuable disk space,
and make searching a
directory listing difficult. You
can make deleting temporary
files easier if you name your
temporary files with a .TMP
extension (or any other easy­to-
remember extension).
You then can remove all
temporary files with one
command. Suppose you have
the temporary files
DOG.TMP;1, DOG.TMP;2,
and CAT.TMP;1 in your
current directory. Type at the
VMS $ prompt the DCL com­mand:
DELETE *.TMP;*
This will delete all three
temporary files.
TIP #2: Compute during off­peak
hours
TIP #4: Create a VAX Mail To increase awareness of Savvy computing on the VAX
subdirectory these computing techniques, cluster often requires you to
TIP #5: Delete your old mail UCS has asked several know the habits of others. For
messages advanced VAX cluster users instance, each day between
TIP #6: Compress your mail
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 5
noon and 1 p.m. interactive
use of the VAX cluster drops
dramatically as users break
for lunch. When these users
log out, the VAX cluster's
response time improves. This
decline in usage occurs again
between 5 and 7 pm. You can
make these "off-peak" hours
work to your advantage. By
taking a late lunch or a
desktop one, you'll ac­complish
more work and
enjoy faster response time
from the VAX cluster. Other
off-peak hours are on week
nights, or on the weekend.
TIP #3: (Not applicable to the
IPFW cluster.)
TIP #4: Create a VAX Mail
subdirectory
As you receive e-mail
messages, the VAX cluster
stores these messages in VAX
mail files. VAX mail files look
This command places all your
mail files in a subdirectory
called .MAIL. Stored here,
out of the way, they won't fill
up your main directory.
1, 2, 3, and 4 from your cur­rent
folder, type:
DELETE 1-4
Once you have deleted all
TIP #5: Delete your old mail unnecessary messages, you
messages should compress your Mail
file (see below) to reclaim any
Unless you do regular unused disk space.
housekeeping on your ac-count,
your accumulated
VAX Mail messages can TIP #6: Compress your mail
completely fill your disk
space. This may make it
impossible for you to receive
other e-mail or do work on
your account. In addition,
messages you don't need take
up valuable disk space that
you or others could use more
effectively. There are several
ways to delete an old message.
To delete the message
currently displayed on your
screen, type at the MAIL>
prompt:
When you delete a VAX Mail
message, it is removed from
your list of messages.
However, the space on the
disk that the message
occupied remains "allocated."
VAX Mail will not write to this
allocated disk space. At least
once a week you should
compress your VAX Mail files
to regain this space for use. To
compress your VAX Mail
files, type at the MAIL>
prompt:
similar to the following when DELETE
COMPRESS
you list a file directory:
MAl L$0004009168B8F C 11 , MAl; 1
Over time these files can
accumulate and occupy the
majority of your file directory.
This can make finding other
files very difficult. To prevent
this, create a VAX Mail
subdirectory. To do so, log
into the VAX cluster and
invoke VAX Mail. At the
MAIL> prompt type:
SET MAIL_DIRECTORY (.mail]
You can also delete a message
by directory number. For
example, to determine the
number of the message you
want to delete, list the
messages in your current
folder by typing:
DIRECTORY
The compression process may
take a few minutes, especially
if you have deleted many
messages. During the com­pression
process, VAX Mail
creates a new, smaller VAX
Mail file from the previous
VAX Mail file. VAX Mail
then renames the previous
Suppose you decide to delete Mail file MAIL.OLD. A
message 14. You can delete it series of messages chronicling
by typing: this process will appear on the
DELETE 14
screen. When the MAIL>
prompt appears, exit VAX
Mail and delete the file
You can also delete a range of MAIL. OLD. At the VAX $
messages. To delete messages
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 6
prompt, type:
DELETE MAIL.OLD;*
If, during the compression
process, you receive a
message stating that you have
exceeded your disk quota, call
C & DP at 481-6194 for
assistance.
connections. If you're going
to be away from your
terminal, please log out.
Logging out releases a
connection so that another
user can access the VAX
cluster. Logging out also
prevents unauthorized access
to your files.
TIP #8: Clearly identify your­TIP
#7: Log off when youre self when using e-mail
away from your tenninal
At any moment during the
day, many VAX cluster users
are camping. This doesn't
mean that users are
computing from the Hoosier
National Forest. Rather,
camping occurs when users
log into the VAX cluster in the
morning and stay connected
throughout the day or for days
at a time, whether they're
using their account or not.
These users usually camp on
the system to monitor their
VAX Mail. This is an
acceptable use of the VAX
cluster. We are pleased that
these users feel so
comfortable with the VAX
cluster that they make it a part
of their office environment.
However, many users become
so comfortable with VAX
Mail that they forget they are
connected to a shared
computing resource. As a
result, some users forget to
log out of the cluster when
they leave their terminals to
attend meetings or to go to
lunch. This practice wastes
valuable VAX cluster
In order to clearly identify
yourself when using e-mail,
you should include your full
name with your message. You
might even include your tele­phone
number or other infor­mation.
Each semester more and
more students apply for VAX
cluster accounts. As a result,
many VAX cluster users have
similar usernames. Many of
these Smith-derived
usernames differed from one
another by only one letter or
character. Because there are
so many similar usemames,
Steven Allan Smith, when
sending an e-mail message,
cannot safely assume that his
username STASMITH will
clearly distinguish his
message from those of Steven
Arnold Smith or even Stanley
Smith.
One easy way to automatically
identify each of your e-mail
messages is to specify a VAX
Mail personal name text
string. When you do, this
string is appended to your
username on the "From" line
of each message you send. To
specify a personal name text
string from inside VAX Mail,
at the MAIL> prompt, type:
SET PERSONAL_NAME "text-string ..
Replace "text-string" with
whatever information you
want to convey. For example,
Steven Allan Smith might
type:
SET PERSONAL_NAME "Steven Allan
Smith, esc, 855-0963"
Smith's e-mail messages will
now be announced by the fol­lowing
message:
New mail on node JADE from
GOLD::STASMITH
"Steven Allan Smith, esc, 855-0963•
TIP #9: Use batch jobs
Many VAX users execute
programs that require ext­ensive
central processing unit
(CPU) time. These programs
concentrate on making
calculations based on in­formation
stored in memory,
rather than executing input
and output functions. Such
programs are best suited for
batch jobs. Batch jobs
operate without terminal in­teraction.
In short, you can
start a batch job, then log out
and do something else while
the VAX cluster continues to
work on your job.
To understand batch jobs, you
need to know a bit about CPU
allocation. In any given min­ute,
many different processes
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 7
are sharing each VAX cluster
processor. Each CPU nor­mally
executes a process for a
fraction of a second then
moves to another process.
To determine which process
to execute, the CPU uses a
priority system. Batch jobs
normally have a priority level
just below interactive jobs.
This means that if both a
batch job and an interactive
job initiate processes sim­ultaneously,
the interactive
users process will be executed
first. Although this is usually a
minuscule advantage, it is
appropriate because there is
a person waiting for some sign
of life from the interactive
process. Such priorities also
ensure that the CPU is most
efficiently used by scheduling
batch jobs to consume any
unused CPU time.
If you execute CPU intensive
programs, you should con­sider
using batch jobs. Using
batch jobs is more than
applying appropriate tech­niques;
its being a considerate
user. One person running a
non-interactive program in an
interactive mode can dra­matically
reduce response
time for himself or herself and
all other interactive users.
TIP# 10: Use VAX Phone with
care
you communicate telephone­style
over the VAX cluster. It
opens a two-way channel
between you and another
user; each can see the others
keystrokes appear in real time
on the screen.
However, some users view
VAX Phone as intrusive
because it disrupts the screen
display and demands imm­ediate
action. When you
initiate a VAX Phone call,
your intended recipient's
terminal beeps and displays
an announcement every ten
seconds until that VAX
Phone, that user will see the
message: That person's phone is
unplugged
(!NO BROADCAST).
You may also include the line
$SET Broadcast=NOPHONE in
your LOGIN.COM file. To
reconnect your phone, type at
the VMS $ prompt the DCL
command:
SET BROADCAST=PHONE
You will now be able to
receive VAX Phone calls
again.
Phone call is either answered TIP # 11: Use a logout
or rejected. This can quickly command file
anger some users. Users who
are unfamiliar with VAX
Phone may not know the
procedures to stop an
incoming call from ringing.
Users who are very busy are
annoyed because they must
take time to respond to the
call. As a VAX Phone caller,
you should restrict your use of
VAX Phone to conversations
with users whom you know.
You may want to make prior
contact with these users to
confirm that they will accept
your VAX Phone calls. On
the other hand, as a VAX
Phone recipient, you can
unplug your phone to prevent
annoying VAX Phone calls.
Type at the VMS $ prompt:
SET BROADCAST=NOPHONE
By creating a DCL command
file that you use each time you
log out of the VAX cluster,
you can automate some of the
suggestions listed in this
article. You must name this
command file with the
extension .COM. Such a
command file can contain any
number of VAX DCL
commands. When the com­mand
file is executed, VMS
reads the file and sequentially
executes each command.
Suppose you always name
your temporary files with a
. TMP extension. You could
automate the removal of
these files. To do so, use a text
editor to create the file
LATER.COM. In this file
enter the commands:
VAX Phone is a great tool for Now, when a user attempts to $ DEL *.TMP;*
quick, interactive comm-unication
between VAX contact you using VAX $ LO
cluster users. VAX Phone lets
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 8
and save your file. The next
time you want to log out of the
VAX cluster, type at the VMS
prompt:
@LATER
VMS will then execute the
LATER.COM file. The
.COM file will first delete
every version of every file with
a .TMP extension. It will then
log you out of your VAX
cluster session. You can use
this technique to automate
any process executable using
DCL commands.
TIP #12: Know your
correspondent's usemame
Be sure you know your
correspondent's user-name.
E-Mail IDs
Steve Worona,
Cornell University,
May/June Issue of the CIT
(Cornell Information Technologies)
SLW@CORNELLA. BITNET
The plane was late and the
hotel lost your reservation,
but finally you're standing at
the conference registration
desk. Hurriedly you grab a
sheaf of announcements, pick
up a name tag, and write BOB
after Hi! My Name Is. You
join the mingling crowd, spy a
friendly face, and steal a
glance at her tag: "Hi! My
Name Is:
lwi lma%-zorch !foo. a7@
new#relay.hairnet". Oops, it
looks like you're at the wrong
conference!
incomprehensible and un­pronounceable
electronic
addresses will be gone in a few
years. Instead, you'll be able
to send mail to "Jane Smith at
Cornell" or "Bob Jones at
Xerox." If there are two Jane
Smith's or Bob Jones's in the
specified organization, youll
be notified immediately and
shown the organization's
"White Pages" so that you can
select the appropriate rec­ipient.
But the standards and
software that will make this
transition possible remain in
their early stages of dev­elopment.
At least for a while
longer, we'll have to deal with
the @!%#!@# addresses
you see in today's electronic
mail.
The Basics
It is not uncommon for many In the universe of electronic
users to have the same last mail devotees, names like: Electronic addresses aren't
inherently complicated, in
fact, they're a lot like phone
numbers. For example, if you
wanted to call my office in
Caldwell Hall, you'd dial one
of the following:
name. It's never safe to
assume that ones last name is Jscc1789@CORNEU.C.aT.CORNELL
ones username. EDU"
When in doubt, use the are often much more familiar
electronic address directory than "Jane Smith." People
available on the VAX cluster. have been known to
To use the directory from the
$ prompt, lookup name,
where name is the person's
last name.
communicate by e-mail for
years without ever meeting
each other or even talking by
phone. When a face-to- face
encounter finally does occur,
cries of "Oh, so you're
JSCC1789!" are to be ex-pected.
And yes, at computer
5-8308 from a phone on campus
255-8308 from a phone in Ithaca
(607) 255-8308 from New York City
Roughly speaking, these are
analogous to the addresses
you might use to send me elec­tronic
mail:
conferences people really do SLW from the CORNELLA computer
include their electronic
SLW@CORNELLA from most other
addresses on their name tags. campus computers
You may be relieved to know SLW@CORNELLA.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
from most computers in the world
that this cryptic code of
Parity Check SepVOct 1990 page 9
The most widely used form of
electronic address consists of
two parts separated by an @
sign, for example, wjones@
geneva• or charly@ albatross.
carolina.edu. The part after the
@ specifies a particular
computer, and the part before
the @ designates a mailbox
(which you can think of as a
person) associated with that
computer. When you send
electronic mail, software on
your own system looks at the
second part the name of the
recipients computer and
figures out how to route your
mail towards that destination.
When the mail arrives,
software on the target system
looks at the first part of the
address and figures out how to
deliver the mail to the
recipient.
By any other name
How do you name a com­puter?
If you only have one
computer, or if you have
several computers that aren't
interconnected, naming isn't
an issue. There's the Physics
Department computer or the
new Vax or the 360. But start
Each national network has personal computers as small
developed its own technical as Apple Macintoshes and
and administrative frame- IBM PCs. This means that
work for naming the com- any single organization might
puters on that network. In the easily have hundreds or even
case of BITNET, each thousands of Internet sys­machine
has an 8-character terns. A BITNET-type
name whose first few letters naming scheme would be
identify the member ins- totally unworkable in such an
titution. Examples at Corn- environment. Fortunately,
ell are CORNELLA, this problem was anticipated
CORNELLC, CRNLV AX5, years ago, and the Internet
and CRNLGSM. The 8- established a system of hierar­character
limit is a restriction chical "domain names."
imposed by the IBM
communications software A hierarchical domain name
upon which BITNET was consists of a sequence of
originally based. A new words separated by dots, such
BITNET site can generally as MvaxS.cit.cornell.edu. • The
appropriate to itself any names become more general
prefix not already in use. As as they proceed from left to
long as the BITNET names right, much as a postal
for all computers in that address does: "123 Any
organization begin with the Street, Rochester, Minn­selected
characters, there will esota, USA." The beauty of
be no name clashes with any the Internet scheme is that
other BITNET sites. There naming authority can be
must, of course, be some distributed within an
central coordination of names organization in as central­within
each BITNET member ized or decentralized a
organization. Since most
computers directly connected
to BITNET ·are relatively
large, however, most sites
have few enough BITNET
computers that name man­agement
isnt a significant
problem.
fashion as that organization
desires. Thus, the Internet
has conferred upon Cornell
University ownership of the
cornell.edu domain.
Within Cornell, several sub­domains
have been defined.
One of these is "cit.
to build up even small
networked clusters and you
have to be at least a bit more
precise: V AXl, V AX2,
IBM360A, CYBERMATH. Another major network in cornell.edu" (containing the
Of course, when you then try which Cornell participates is names of all of Cornell
to link these clusters into called "the TCP!IP Internet," Information Technologies
national networks, you
quickly discover that there are
a few hundred machines
called V AXl, and this causes
problems.
formerly known as "Arpanet" computer systems) and
and today often called simply another is "cs.cornell.edu"
"the Internet." Computers of (with names of computers in
all sizes can attach to ~he the Computer Science
Internet, including desktop Department). The admin-
Parity Check SepVOct 1990 page 1 0
t
'-
istrator of one sub-domain
may assign names without
concern for what has been
assigned in the other sub­domain.
There might thus be
both a •vax1.cit. cornell.edu• and
a •vax1.cs.cornell.edu•, just as
there are both a Rochester,
Minnesota, and a Rochester,
New York.
As you may have noticed,
some computers are attached
to more than one network,
and therefore have more than
one name. For example, the
system that's called
CORNELLA on BITNET is
known as "cornella.cit.
cornell.edu" on the Internet.
Because there are gateways
cross-connecting the net­works,
it's possible to send
mail from the Internet to a
BITNET-named computer,
and vice-versa. In the fullness
of time, the radical naming
differences between com­puters
on different networks
will surely disappear. Even
today, in fact, many mail
systems recognize the
pseudo-domain ".BITNET,"
so that, for example, the
address "SLW@CORNELLA.BIT­NET"
would be considered
legitimate.
You Can't Get There from
Here
there? How, in fact, does your When the mail arrives, the
computer even know that "PLEBE%ANNAPOLIS" part in­MARYLAND
is the actual structs MARYLAND to
name of some other computer redirect the file to
at all? Again, the various PLEBE@ANNAPOLIS. In prin­networks
have solved this ciple, this process may
problem in different ways, cascade, producing add­linking
member computers by resses such as "MICH­means
of carefully main- ELLE%SORBONNE%PARIS%­tained
and distributed FRANCE@EUROPE". But the
"routing tables", "name "%hack," as it's called, hasn't
servers," and an assortment of been universally adopted, and
other databases and software. so there's no guarantee that
For the most part, you don't each computer in the path will
need to know or care about understand it. More im­the
details· of these portantly, as network
techniques. Every now and technology matures, routing
then, however, you'll find the software is getting smarter,
clever tricks developed over and the need for such "explicit
the years by network gurus path routing" is declining.
intruding into your world.
For one network (called
Imagine, for example, that UUCP or, frequently but
you want to send mail to erroneously, USENET),
PLEBE@ANNAPOLIS, but explicit path routing is
for some reason your congenital. The UUCP
computer system has no network grew from a
information about the com- collection of computers
puter called ANNAPOLIS. running the Unix operating
You know, however, that the system. A standard feature of
MARYLAND computer Unix is a program that allows
(which your computer knows one Unix system to dial into
well) is in direct contact with another in order to exchange
ANNAPOLIS. (At-INA- files. This Unix-to-Unix­POLIS
might be a recent Copy (UUCP) program led to
addition to the network or a the formation of an enormous
"private" system announced daisy-chain of computers
to only a limited subset of the along which mail hops from
network.) In this case, your site to site until it reaches its
correspondent might tell you destination.
to address mail to:
Suppose you're sending mail Each computer in such a
to a computer called •PLEBEo/oANNAPOUS@MARYLAND-. network needs to be aware of
MARYLAND. How does the only its direct neighbor or
software on your computer The "@MARYLAND" part neighbors, the computer(s) to
figure out which computer tells your computer to send which it places phone calls.
this is or the path from here to the mail to MARYLAND. Electronic addresses there-
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 11
fore generally specify the
entire path from sender to
recipient, including every step
along the way. In UUCP
syntax, an exclamation point
("!", which printers call a
''bang" or "shriek") separates
adjacent computers, leading
to "bang addresses" like:
"red!blue!green!orange!yellow!
sylvia."
In this example, the "red"
computer is asked to transfer
the mail to "blue," which in
turn hands the mail to "green,"
and so on. The ultimate
destination is mailbox "sylvia"
on computer "yellow." Again,
improving technology is
easing much of the UUCP
addressing burden. On CIT's
IBM mainframes, for ex­ample,
most instances of an
address like this could be
written simply as: "SYLVIA@
YELLOW.UUCP!
Conclusion
tremendous potential for
increased productivity and
enhanced communication
cannot be ignored. Give it a
shot!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CCNEWS Copyright Notice
The above article courtesy of
the:"Articles database of CCNEWS,
the Electronic Forum for Campus
Computing Newsletter Editors, a BIT­NET-
based service of EDUCOM. •
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Active Query
Mark Franke
Do I need a new PC to access
SIS? This question is asked
frequently of C & DP staff
when departments are
considering buying new PCs.
Two points should be kept in
mind. First, any pre-existing
PC with an IRMA or LAN
card will be capable of
accessing SIS. Second,
optimal performance is
achievable only with a 386
based system. In other words,
any PC will be. usable but only
386SX or better PCs should
Consider the following typical
workstation. A 386SX with
4Mb of RAM running
DESQView 386 can have
open windows for e-mail, SIS
mainf:·ame access, word
processing, and whatever
other software is needed.
Each program is loaded once
in the morning and then
switched to by a simple two­keystroke
series.
These powerful workstations
offer other advantages as
well. Most new application
software coming out today
requires either extended or
expanded memory to run
optimally, or even at all.
Lotus 1-2-3 version 3.0
requires a full megabyte
(1,024Kb) of memory, and
version 2.2 leaves little room
for spreadsheets if expanded
memory is not available.
When combined with a
special memory manager, like
QEMM from Quarterdeck,
386 machines have the ability
to move network shells and
The world of computer be purchased in the future. h · d
networks and electronic mail ot er terminate-an -stay-resident
programs into high
is exceptionally dynamic. The 386 class machines offer
Some of the details men- RAM, the nebulous memory
a number of advantages. area between DOSs 640Kb
tioned above would have When used with a
been incorrect six months sophisticated memory man­ago;
many others will be agement program, they can
obsolete in a year or two. And use all available memory
yet more and more people rather than be limited to
nation- and world-wide are 640Kb. And with an
and the 1Mb starting point for
extended memory. Using a
properly optimized QEMM
driver, a workstation can have
as much as 590Kb available
for applications... after
becoming regular users of e- intelligent windowing 1o ggi·n g I·n to t h e networ k .
mail and associated program, they can run
technologies. Despite ob- multiple applications con- All these features make a 386
scure addressing and currently. PC h · h 1
imperfect connectivity, the more t an JUSt t e P at-form
of the future. It is the
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 12
right workstation for today.
This is why C & DP so strongly
recommends against buying
any more 286 PC~. At today's
prices a 386SX costs
approximately $200 more
than a slower, nearly obsolete
286.
Meanwhile, if you have an
older class machine, we will
make it work for you when
New SIS comes up. Just don't
buy any more of them. If you
would like to learn more
about the power of 386 class
computers, I would be happy
to provide a demonstration. I
can be reached at userid
FRANKE on any of the
campus e-mail systems, or by
calling extension 6258.
The basic set of manuals now name, the statistical package
consists of: now has, you guessed it, a new
set of manuals:
SAS Language: Reference
($20.95) SPSS Reference Guide
SAS/STAT Users Guide v. 1 SPSS Base System Users
and 2 ($37.95) Guide
SAS Procedures Guide SPSS Advanced Statistics ~~~~~~~~~~~
($17.95) User's Guide
In addition, there are two new
task-oriented guides:
SAS Language and Pro­cedures:
Introduction (for
beginners, unknown price)
SAS Language and Pro­cedures:
Usage ($16.95)
Users of the SASBATCH
(Editor's Note: Later in this issue, we method of submitting a SAS
have listed some recommendations
for future PC purchases.) job for batch processing
Just as for SAS, users of the
ST ATS method of submitting
a SPSS job for batch process­ing
should not notice any
major changes, although
there have been numerous
enhancements to existing
procedures. Copies of the
new manuals have been or­dered
and will soon be placed
in the terminal clusters' docu­mentation
racks. If you are
interested in further details,
you may contact Bill Baden at
6202 or use the standard in­teractive
system:
Statistics Programs
Updated
Bill Baden
New SAS 6.06
The statistical package, SAS,
should not notice any major
changes, although there have
been numerous en­hancements
to existing
procedures. Copies of the
new manuals have been
purchased and will soon be
placed in the terminal
clusters' documentation
racks. If you are interested in
further details, you may
examine C & DP's copy of
SAS Technical Report P-205:
Changes and Enhancements
or contact Bill Baden at 6202.
has been upgraded from 5.18 New SPSS 4_0
to 6.06. With this revision
$ SPSS/NOMANAGER
SPSS> HELP.
SPSS > FINISH.
to obtain online specifics
about each procedure.
/
users will note one major Version 3.0 of SPSS-X has
change: a whole new set of been upgraded to version 4.0 1
/
·.
manuals. of SPSS. Be,sides the new
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 13
Reece's Pieces
Rebecca Reece Williams
VVordPerfect does not mark
the changes word-by-word. It
marks them phrase-by-
Redline and Strikeout
WordPerfect 5.1
zn phrase. Practical hint: Make
a backup copy of the
document before making the
Computing and Data
Processing is similar to many
other departments in that
documents are read by many
pairs of eyes before they
finally are sent out. Suppose
you send a copy of a document
on disk to a co-worker and ask
for his or her input. This
person revises the document,
stores, and returns it. Using
the Document Compare
feature you can retrieve the
changed document to your
screen and ask VVP to
compare and mark the
passages on the screen that
differ from the original.
A second scenario would be if
you retrieve a document to
your screen, make several
changes yourself and want to
know how it compares to the
original. You can use the
Document Compare feature
to mark the changed phrases.
A third way to use Document
Compare would be in its
printed form. VVhen C & DP
writes the Parity Check, many
different people see it.
Changes are made and then it
is redistributed. By using
Document Compare and then
printing the document, these
same readers would only have
to review those phrases which
are changed.
comparison.
To make the comparison
between a document on
screen and a document on
disk, follow these simple
steps:
1. Press Mark Text (Alt-F5)
2. Select Generate (Option 6)
3. Select Compare Screen and
Disk Documents and Add
Redline and Strikeout
(Option 2).
4. Enter the name of the
document on disk that you
want to compare with the
document on your screen. If
the document currently
displayed has been saved, its
filename is displayed as the
default.
{Author's Note: If you have made
changes to the document on your
screen and wish to compare it with the
document stored on-disk, simply
press Enter.)
After making the comparison,
you may want to restore the
document on the screen the
way it was before the
comparison. To have
VVordPerfect remove the
markings, follow these steps:
1. Press Mark Text (Alt-F5)
2. Select Generate (Option 6)
3. Select Remove Redline ·
Markings and Strikeout Text
from Document (Option 1)
4. Type Y. (Yes)
This deletes the Redline and
Strikeout codes (and the text
found lJetween them), and the
notations around the phrases
and leaves the cursor at the
end of the document.
If many differences were
marked, restoring a com­pared
document to its original
state can be a little com­plicated.
As a result, if you are
comparing two documents
you know you will want to
keep, it's a good idea to have
another copy of both doc­uments
stored on disk before
making the comparison. You
can then exit the compared
document and retrieve the
original easily.
VVhile the two documents are
being compared, a counter
appears at the left end of the
status line. After the
comparison is finished, the
differences between the two
documents are marked and
the cursor is placed at the
beginning of your document.
The differences are marked in
three ways.
1. Added phrases are
marked with a pair of Redline
codes [REDLN][redln]
placed around the phrase that
was added.
2. Deleted phrases are
marked with a pair of
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 14
Strikeout codes [STKOUT]
[ stkout] placed around the
text that was deleted.
3. Moved phrases are
marked by inserting THE
FOLLOWING TEXT WAS MOVED
before and THE PRECEDING TEXT
WAS MOVED after the phrase.
The Redline and Strikeout
codes do not appear on the
normal screen, but can be
seen in one of several ways, in
Reveal Codes (Alt, F3) or
depending upon your
keyboard, by printing the
document (Shift, F7) or by
Viewing the Document (Shift,
F7 + Option 6).
The appearance of Redline
and Strikeout text on the
normal screen, on the other
hand, depends upon your
monitor and display card
capabilities. If they are not
displayed, you may want to
modify your settings for
Redline and Strikeout att­ributes
on your set-up screen.
To change these attributes
follow these steps:
1. Press Setup (Shift, F 1)
2. Press Display (Option 2)
3. Press Screen Colors
(Option 1)
4. Change your screen colors
to easily identify the Redline
and Strikeout text.
"A phrase is defined as the
text found between the two
phrase markers. The phrase
markers WordPerfect uses
are those items which
normally punctuate sen­tences,
including punctuation
marks, Hard Return Codes,
Footnote codes, Endnote
codes, and the end of the
document." (WordPerfect
Reference Manual p. 136.)
The compari~on does not,
however, include any text
which is found within graphic
boxes, headers, or footers. It
is important to keep in mind
that since punctuation may
vary, the phrases Word­Perfect
marks may not always
correspond to the sentences
in your current document.
If you have any questions or
other helpful tips, pass them
along and I will be glad to
publish them in this column.
Our topic for the next issue
will be Repeat Value and
what using the
key can accomplish.
Workstation
Configuration
At a minimum, the following
specifications are strongly
recommended for new micro
computers purchased by
departments using University
funds:
386SX System
40 Mb Hard Drive
One further note: the phrases Either 3.5 or 5.25 High Density
used as a basis for comparison Floppy Drive (3.5• drive
II preferred)
are genTera Y senhtences nolt 16-Bit VGA video card with at least
words. o quote t e manua , 256Kb
Color VGA monitor
4Mb RAM (System Memory)
3 or more 16-Bit expansion slots
Desqview 386
Qemm or similar memory manager
DOS4.01
The following are additional
systems and enchancements to
be considered, if funds are
available and processing needs
warrant
386 standard system with
progressively faster processor
speeds (20,25,33 MHz)
486 System--This level of micro
computer is relatively new and may
be considered for computing
intensive applications
65Mb RLL hard drive (which
usually costs the same as 40Mb
MFM) or larger drives may be
purchased based on expected
usage and funds
Multisynch monitor capable of
1 024 x 768 for higher resolution
requirements such as desktop
publishing and graphics
Both 3.5 and 5.25 high density
floppy drives. Some will find both
sizes necessary when using software
residing on 3.5 and 5.25 disks. At
least one machine should have this
capability in each department for
disk conversion.
512Kb video card RAM
Math Co-Processor
Mouse
Microsoft Windows 3.0
~111111111111 ....
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990 page 15
Computing and Data Processing
Indiana University Purdue University
at Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne Indiana 46805-1499
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New Arrivals
A new six-platter Pioneer CD-ROM
drive has arrived at the CIC. This
drive will be used to access the Ziff­Davis
Computer library, a compilation
of 40 of the most popular current
computer periodicals. This facility
will accelerate research on computer
topics. The system was being used
from the first day it was operational.
C& DP People
Over the summer, C & DP has hired
two new computer operators. They
are Amy Luthe and Connie Rhodes.
Both have worked as computer
operators in the private sector before
comming to IPFW.
Useful Numbers:
Dial-Ups - 481 - 6905
Consulting 481 -6210
Operators 481 - 6207
General Info 481 -6194
C I C 481 - 6030
Academic 481 -6031
Administrative 481 - 6032
Hours (Kettler)
Mon- Fri 7 am - 12 midnight
Saturday 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Sunday 12 noon - 1 0 pm
Closed: Memorial Day, Labor Day
Weekend, Thanksgiving, Christmas,
New Year's Day.
Parity Check Sept/Oct 1990